Report: Sibley on way to see woman at time of fatal crash

Report: Sibley on way to see woman at time of fatal crash

Livingston Parish School Board President Malcolm Sibley was on his way to see his purported girlfriend when he allegedly hit and killed a 21-year-old Mississippi man June 15 on a two-lane highway in St. Helena Parish, a State Police crash report says.

The woman, Charlotte Frazier, of Kentwood, and her daughter, Christy Miller, refused to speak to investigators about the incident, according to the report released Monday.

Sibley, 66, has been married to the former Johnice Diane Duffy since 1967. They have three children.

Sherman Mack, Sibley’s attorney, has said his client was driving around for work related to his timber company at the time of the crash, which was reported to State Police at about 5 a.m.

Mack, who has said Sibley would wait for troopers to finish their investigation into the crash before making any public comments, did not return multiple calls for comment Monday.

The State Police report says Miller told a friend named Blaine Grice that “her mother’s boyfriend was the one who had hit” William Cody Iasigi, 21, of Liberty, Miss., on La. 43 in front of the St. Helena Parish Police Jury building, just north of Greensburg.

Iasigi’s blood-alcohol content level was 0.22 percent, or nearly three times the state’s legal limit of 0.08 for driving, at the time of the crash, according to a State Police blood analysis.

Sibley turned himself in more than 24 hours after the accident and was not given an alcohol test.

Grice told troopers of a conversation with Miller in which Miller told him that Sibley had been on his way to Frazier’s house when the crash occurred.

Grice, in a telephone interview Monday, said Miller told him of the accident when they went to the movies sometime after the crash. He said he told his parents about their conversation and his parents decided to contact police.

Mack has declined comment when asked why Sibley drove away from the scene.

Miller told Grice that Sibley cannot hear or see well and that Sibley thought he had hit a deer, according to the State Police report. Miller told Grice that Sibley later heard the news about Iasigi’s death and realized he had not hit a deer.

Grice said he has never met Sibley. He said he only knew from Miller, a family friend for years, that Frazier was dating Sibley.

Debbie Grice, Blaine Grice’s mother, said in an interview that she and her son have been close friends with Frazier and Miller for many years because they all live in the same area in Kentwood.

Miller did not return calls for comment. Phone numbers could not be found for Frazier.

The State Police report says the investigating trooper, Clyde Freeman, discovered Sibley was the hit-and-run driver “through investigative leads.” The report says the trooper saw Sibley’s damaged truck when he approached Sibley at his Weiss Road house in Walker.

Sibley later admitted to being the hit-and-run driver in the crash and was booked into the St. Helena Parish Jail on one count of felony hit-and-run, more than a day after Iasigi was killed.

Troopers seized Sibley’s truck June 17. Troopers obtained another warrant June 19, but the purpose of that warrant was not clear in the State Police report.

Sibley told troopers he was driving north on La. 43 when he saw Iasigi’s truck traveling southbound. He said he later felt a metal object hit his truck, swerved to the right and slowed down.

Sibley said he looked back, saw no lights and continued about 5 miles north before noticing his mirror was gone.

Sibley later examined the damage to his truck and “thought that something else may have happened, as far as what his vehicle had struck.”

Iasigi and his rear-seat passenger, Thomas Bailey, were arguing when Iasigi pulled over the white 2008 Chevrolet Silverado pickup he was driving, according to the State Police report.

Bailey got out and began walking south on the road, but Iasigi made a U-turn and stopped in the southbound lane. Iasigi exited the vehicle and stood next to it, leaving the driver’s door open. That’s when Sibley’s northbound truck reportedly hit him.

Bailey told troopers he heard a loud noise after exiting the truck. The other passenger, Jarrett Wilson, said he heard Iasigi moan and then saw his body on the ground. Wilson put Iasigi into the truck and drove him to the nearby St. Helena Parish Hospital.

Bailey hung up when reached by phone Monday; Wilson did not return calls for comment.

Freeman, the investigating trooper, went to the hospital and saw the 2008 Silverado parked outside. Freeman saw blood splattered on the truck. The lower driver’s door panel was pushed inward.

Debbie Grice said she knew Iasigi, whom she described as a “very good kid.”

“(He was) just a typical teenager,” she said. “They come from good families.”

Sibley’s relatives have declined comment about his arrest, referring all questions to Mack.

Sibley, a Democrat from Walker, won his first election to the School Board in 1994. He lost his seat in 2006 but regained it in 2010.

He represents Doyle High, Doyle Elementary, Frost School, North Corbin Elementary, North Corbin Junior High and half of Holden.

Mack has said he has not spoken with Sibley about whether he will stay on the School Board.